EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Leave it to Tom Coughlin, cheeks reddened by the November chill and five successive losses, to figure out that two wrongs could make a right.

Leave it to Coughlin, his mind numbed by his quarterback's five interceptions, to consider the possibility that, yes, a debacle on one side of the ball at Seattle and a debacle on the other side of the ball against the 49ers will lead to a win next week over the Cowboys.

"We've had a defensive fiasco; we've had an offensive fiasco," Coughlin said after Eli Manning and the Giants fell 16-10 to the San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium. "Perhaps now we'll be able to put something together."

We came Sunday to bury the 2014 Giants' defense. Instead, the 2013 Manning jumped out from behind the door, screaming, "Boo! Bad Eli is baaaack!" When this was over, after a desperation fourth-down pass bounced off Odell Beckham Jr. and he had slammed his helmet to the ground, all Giants fans from Trenton to Tolland could be forgiven if they felt like doing the same.

Then again, all Giants fans may already have smashed their television sets after four plays inside the 49ers' 5-yard line, a fourth-quarter drive that would have celebrated an incredible catch by Beckham ended with Eli's fifth interception.

The Giants entered this game ranked last in the NFL at 404.9 yards allowed per game. The Giants were last in the NFL in run defense, too, at 144.7 yards. They were hemorrhaging 400 yards week after week. And as they looked Colin Kaepernick in the eye in pregame, they also knew they were on pace to allow the second-most points in team history.

"They listened to enough," Coughlin said of a defense that refused to tackle anybody in the late going last week in Seattle. "They played with good physical play today. They got a lot of stops."

Unfortunately, not nearly as many stops as his offense.

There have been so many things wrong through a 3-7 start. Eli throwing interceptions at an alarming rate, however, hasn't been one of them. After 27 picks last season — tied for 19th-most in NFL history and second-most since 1988 — new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo designed plays to lessen the risk. Manning had only six interceptions through nine games.

He had five in this game, his fifth coming on a fourth-down play on the 49ers' 4-yard line with 4:39 remaining.

"Four shots from the 4, it's inexcusable we didn't score," Coughlin said. "In hindsight, we should have run the ball."

That statement alone will have New York second-guessing all week. Beckham, who had just made a spectacular 37-yard juggling catch over Perrish Cox, was double-teamed on the right side. On first down, Manning unsuccessfully tried to float one to him. One second down, Eli unsuccessfully tried to float one to Rueben Randle. The Giants called a timeout. On third down, with Eric Reid defending, Eli unsuccessfully tried to float one to tight end Larry Donnell.

Three fades, and fade to desperation.

The Giants had a running back on those three plays. On fourth down, they had three receivers, two tight ends and an empty backfield. There was pressure, Eli stepped to his left and tried to force a pass to Preston Parker. Dontae Johnson tipped it. Chris Borland intercepted at the 2. After every interception, Eli always looks like he's sick. On this one, he looked like his dog had died.

Coughlin said he had no problem calling three successive fades. He said he wanted to score. Period. That's why he didn't run. That's why he didn't settle for a field goal.

The game had started with a minor miracle. After a Frank Gore fumble, Manning found Donnell for a 19-yard scoring pass. It marked the first time in 20 games the Giants got a touchdown on their opening drive, ending the longest such drought in the NFL.

Eli then started spraying the football all over the swamp.

"It obviously was an accuracy issue," Coughlin said. "He also had great pressure and I don't think anybody's going to argue with that one."

Coughlin is right about lousy offensive line play. And when right tackle Justin Pugh left with a quad strain, his backup Charles Brown and right guard John Jerry were exploited. There also were bad throws and bad decisions by the two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback.

With the Giants ahead 7-6 and under nine minutes to go in the second quarter, Borland undercut Manning's pass for Beckham for his first of two interceptions.

"I thought I could get it in there," Eli said. "The guy jumped it pretty well, the linebacker."

The second pick with 4:34 left in the first half was crazy-ugly.

Manning saw Randle on the sideline covered by Cox. And somehow he found 49ers linebacker Michael Wilhoite wide open.

"I tried to pull it back and couldn't pull it back in time," Manning said. "It was a little quick out to Rueben and the corner jumped it. It kind of slipped out and went to the linebacker."

It was one of those stupefying plays that had social media cranking Eli for being A. blind; B. stupid; or C. both.

After the Giants cut the 49ers' lead to 16-10 in the third quarter, Mark Herzlich successfully recovered an onside kick. What happened? Pick No. 3. Manning's deep pass for Randle was badly overthrown and intercepted by Reid.

"Tried to hit a corner route," Manning said. "I was on the ground. I didn't see how it all finished up."

Not well, Eli. Not well.

Manning was under duress again on his fourth interception with 9:40 left in the game when another pass intended for Randle was picked off by Chris Culliver.

Manning is a leader. The next guy he throws under the bus will probably be his first.

"[The interceptions] are all on me," he said. "It's nobody else's fault."

Not true.

And he said this:

"Charles Brown came and in and did a good job."

Not true, either.

Yet it also is true Eli, who had recovered from a lousy 2013, had a lousy game, and he had a chance to win it at the end.

"I didn't expect this," said Manning, who joined Tony Romo as the only active quarterback to throw five interceptions twice in a career.

Manning said the 49ers didn't give the Giants a good look to run on that fateful series from inside the 4. Maybe on first down, he said, they could have run and been given a run/pass option from there. Yet he insisted he had good looks on his first three passes.

"Then on the fourth-down play, we had five guys out," Manning said. "They dropped eight. It wasn't going to be a clean picture throw. I tried to fit it into Parker. Maybe I could have scrambled a little bit more and hit Rueben on the outside. They covered it up pretty well. The ball just got tipped up …

"I'm disappointed in myself. I could have thrown some better balls. They were doubling Odell down there, everybody else was one-on-one, and we've been really good in those situations on fades."

And now the Giants' season is even better at fading to black. The Jets are already there. New York football in 2014? Going, going, gone. Just wasn't expecting the 2013 Eli to put a fork in it.